Bangladesh among top five countries with highest Internet shutdowns in 2022: Report

Bangladesh was among the top five countries with the highest number of Internet shutdowns in 2022, said a recent report by Access Now, a New York-based non-profit organisation working on the digital civil rights of people around the world.

"In 2022, authorities shut down the Internet across 35 countries – the highest number ever recorded in a single year – at least 187 times," said the report titled "Weapons of control, shields of impunity: Internet shutdowns in 2022" published on Tuesday.  

According to the report, in 2022, India had the highest number of shutdowns (84), followed by Ukraine (22), Iran (18), Myanmar (7) and Bangladesh (6).

Access Now has been monitoring Internet service shutdowns worldwide since 2016. It added that several countries worldwide have suspended Internet services in response to significant national-level issues such as protests, conflicts, exams, elections, and political unrest.

"Governments wield Internet shutdowns as weapons of control and shields of impunity," said Felicia Anthonio, a campaign manager at Access Now.

"In 2022, under authoritarian regimes and in democracies, powermongers accelerated their use of these callous tactics, disrupting the Internet to fuel their agendas of oppression – manipulating narratives, silencing voices, and ensuring cover for their own acts of violence and abuse. Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition know open, secure Internet access belongs to all, and we will continue to meet these attacks on human rights with collective defiance," Anthonio added.

Other countries where authorities had shut down the Internet in 2022: Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Burkina Faso, China, Cuba, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.

"2022 was a catastrophe for human rights," said Zach Rosson, a data analyst at Access Now.

"The damage Internet shutdowns caused last year is unfathomable, but, in 2023 and beyond, it is not inevitable. We – as an international community – have the power and the momentum to not only stop the resurging global trend of deliberate disruptions but to expunge it for good," Rosson added.